[One of the most distinguished of the Spartan kings, ascended the throne 398 B.C.; commanded an expedition to Persia, but was called home about 394; saved Sparta when threatened by Epaminondas, 362; died about 361.]

When told of a man who imitated the nightingale to perfection.PLUTARCH:Life.

Being asked which was the better virtue, valor or justice, he replied, Unsupported by justice, valor is good for nothing; and if all men were just, there would be no need of valor.Ibid.

When the physician Menecrates, who, from his cure of desperate cases, was called Jupiter, addressed him a letter, Menecrates Jupiter to King Agesilaus, health, the Spartan returned a laconic answer: King Agesilaus to Menecrates, his senses.Ibid.

Upon his arrival in Egypt, where he had taken a command under Tachos, his small stature and mean attire made the Egyptians declare the fable to be true that the mountain had brought forth a mouse; to which the king replied, They will find me a lion by and by.ATHENÆUS, quoted by PLUTARCH:Life.

Observing that a certain malefactor bore torture with remarkable firmness, he said, What a great rogue he must be, whose courage and constancy are bestowed on crime alone!

When asked what boys should learn, he replied, That which they will use when men.PLUTARCH:Laconic Apothegms.

To one who wondered at the poor attire and fare of the Spartans. When asked why they wore their hair long, he replied, Because of all personal ornaments it costs the least. Having kept at a distance the enemies of Sparta, he could say, No Spartan woman has ever seen the smoke of the enemys camp.

He showed the citizens in arms to one who asked why Sparta had no walls, with the words, These are the walls of Sparta. He used to say that cities should be walled with the courage of the inhabitants.PLUTARCH:Life. When asked where the boundaries of Sparta were, he replied, On the points of our spears.

Being shown a well-walled city, and asked if it were not a fine thing; For women, he answered, not men, to live in. Thus Agis II., observing the high and strong walls of Corinth, asked, What women live there?Laconic Apothegms.

When asked what good the laws of Lycurgus had brought to Sparta, he replied, Contempt of pleasure; and in answer to the question how he acquired his great reputation for bravery, By contemning death. Agis II. made the same answer when asked how a man could be always free.

To a Megarian talking boastfully of his city. Also told of Lysander.PLUTARCH:Life. When a well-contrived but difficult plan to free Greece was proposed to Agis II., he replied, Friend, thy words need an army and a treasure.Laconic Apothegms. Shakespeare says, The phrase would be more german to the matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides.Hamlet, V. 2.

Accepting an inferior seat at a public dancing, Agesilaus said, It is not the places which grace men, but men the places. He thought with Rob Roy, Where Macgregor sits, there is the head of the table.

To one commending the skill of a certain orator in magnifying petty matters, the king replied, I do not think that shoemaker a good workman who makes a great shoe for a little foot.

On his death-bed, charging his friends that no fiction or counterfeit (so he called statues) should be made of him, Agesilaus said, If I have done any honorable exploit, that is my monument; but if I have done none, all your statues will signify nothing.

Epaminondas declared on his death-bed that his victories of Leuctra and Mantinea are daughters enough to keep my name alive.

Alexander I., of Russia, declined a monument to commemorate his military exploits, with the words, May a monument be erected to me in your hearts, as it is to you in mine; an echo of the sentiment of the Czar Peter III. (17281762), refusing a golden statue, If by good government I could raise a memorial in my peoples hearts, that would be the statue for me.

They offer me a statue, said Bonaparte, when First Consul, but I must look at the pedestal: they may make it a prison.